These days, most businesses are accessible online. Communicating through text or app has become the preferred method, especially for millennials like myself. We don't want to call a restaurant to place an order or go to a doctor's office to get a prescription. We want to tap an app and have all the information and services we need right at our fingertips.
In just the past five years, this desire for immediate access has become overwhelming when it comes to children and childcare. Brightwheel satisfies this need; it is an application that allows teachers to share the details of a child's day-to-day life at school directly with parents and provides parents easy access to teachers. From the outside it seems perfect, a simple solution, and many parents love the Brightwheel experience. But is there a downside?
It is no surprise to me that it was not an early childhood educator who developed this app; it was a parent. A dad wanted instant access to information about his child's day at school, so he created a platform and went on Shark Tank, teamed up with Mark Cuban, and is now making tons of money. Good for him. But in his hurry to get rich, he forgot to consider (or didn't care) how detrimental apps like this could be to daycares and the relationships they cultivate.
Imagine this... Joey is 2 years-old. Each day, his teachers are expected to update his Brightwheel with what he ate for each meal, how much he ate of each meal, how long he slept, every diaper change, the contents of his diapers, the activities he participated in, developmental milestones, photos throughout the day, and all of this is done in real-time. But Joey is not alone. There are eleven other 2 year-olds in the room and those same teachers have to input all that information for every single child. Meanwhile, parents can send messages directly to the teachers and expect timely responses.
My question is, shouldn't these teachers be interacting with the kids, not an app?
To 2 year-old Joey, his teacher entering information into Brightwheel is exactly the same as if she were texting or reading Buzzfeed articles. Her eyes are on a tablet! What message does this send children? All the research says to limit a young child's screen time, and yet teachers are REQUIRED to set this horrible example. More importantly, young children need lots of adult interaction for language development, social-emotional development, and general well-being. Teachers simply cannot be giving children adequate supervision and quality care if they are staring at a screen all day.
Now, it is important to understand that documenting children's development as well as eating, sleeping and toileting habits is not a new concept, especially in infant classrooms. Brightwheel simply took what teachers have always done with pen and paper and put it online. However, as someone who has used both methods, I can tell you apps are far more time-consuming, stress-inducing, and therefore distracting. And in my experience, most teachers using an app feel this way. A friend of mine teaches 2 year-olds for a well-known private franchise that uses the app Tadpoles. Her thoughts...
"The amount of time we spend on Tadpoles DEFINITELY takes away from learning time and social interactions... We are required to take photos of each child during every activity throughout the day, and some parents ask for more! I have been in rooms where teachers literally set up an activity, pose a child there for the picture, then move them to the next thing. The kid is just shuffled around the room instead of doing anything meaningful."
Sadly, this is the way these applications have rapidly impacted early childhood education, and with teacher turnover being such a HUGE problem in the field, this situation isn't helping anything. Preschool teachers burn out quickly, especially when they aren't free to enjoy their time with the children, and the more jaded they get, the more mistakes are made. Here is a real-life example...
Two teachers in a toddler classroom brought out water beads for the children to play with. (If you aren't familiar, water beads are gelatinous orbs that expand in water). So, while one teacher was taking photos with the tablet and updating Brightwheel, the other was left to monitor ten toddlers, some playing elsewhere in the room, a few playing with a colorful, squishy, non-edible material... I'm sure you see where this is going. Yes, multiple children managed to swallow several water beads. Neither teacher noticed. The parents found out when they opened bead-filled diapers and were understandably upset. Luckily, no child was harmed.
You can blame the teachers for lack of supervision. You can blame the director for allowing water beads in a toddler classroom. Personally, I put some blame on the center’s Brightwheel requirements for taking a set of eyes off the children. A wise (and beautiful) woman advocated for this school's parent company to get rid of or limit Brightwheel use at their centers; she was told no, because, "The app is what parents want." I disagree; it's what they THINK they want.
I believe any parent, if they knew the risk, would choose their child's safety over updates about snack time and bowel movements. Am I wrong?
Now some of you might be thinking, "Brightwheel puts me at ease and gives me the information I need." Of course. And you're entitled to that information. But do you really need it in the middle of your work day? If you truly trust your childcare center, you could wait until the end of the day to get a written or verbal summary. I mean, that's what our parents had to do, and we turned out okay... Right? My own cousin admits that, while working, she is always thinking about when she is going to get that next ping from Brightwheel. She is addicted to knowing everything her son is doing when he isn't with her. I ask, "Is that healthy attachment?"
Learning to let go is a huge part of parenting during the first five years; Brightwheel makes it so you don't have to. Society used to mock "helicopter parents." Now, technology has made it the norm. But for healthy attachment to develop between parent and child, the parent has to put their faith in others. They have to adjust to that feeling of not knowing, and trust that their child is okay.
Trust is a huge issue here.
Teacher-parent relationships and interactions rooted in trust are KEY to a successful childcare program, especially in the more unpleasant situations. One of my favorite parts of my years as a teacher was educating parents about things like potty training, biting, and defiance. But, since the Brightwheel boom, I don’t see this happening much anymore. Using an app to send a photo and a quick "this happened, sorry" doesn‘t teach parents anything about normal child development, and behaviors simply continue. I tell teachers all the time, “Stop hiding behind the app.” Make the phone call. Have the uncomfortable conversation. Be the reassuring voice. Establish a relationship with the people who have trusted you with what is most precious to them.
With all that being said, I should point out that I am not a parent and therefore have not experienced leaving my child in someone else's care. But, after more than fifteen years in the field, I believe I understand what parents want for their children; safety, learning, and joy. Unfortunately, applications like Brightwheel can take away from all three. There are ways to use these platforms responsibly, and many centers do, but it's important to be aware of the things children get less of as teachers are required to share more.
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